The Hidden Enemy
by Hyperteenager24
Summary: When Vex's club is bombed, the owner is faced with the difficult betrayl of someone within his building. 3rd in the Modern Assassins Creed series
1. Chapter 1

As well as my Evie & Jacob one shots, I am also writing a modern Assassin's creed series

Previously in this series: After being framed for a crime, Jacob left the Order and the Assassin village. Five year later, the Young Assassin team meet Vex and enter into an agreement with him and his club.

Please enjoy, and read and review :)

….

Vex hummed to himself as he strode through the streets, clad in black skinny jeans, a tight black shirt, with a hoodie for warmth. His footsteps echoed through the streets, as he began to sing softly, his voice slightly altered by an earpiece microphone.

"There's a hole in the world like a great black pit,

and the vermin of the world inhabit it,

and its morals aren't worth what a pig can spit,

and it goes by the name of London...

At the top of the hole sit a privileged few,

Making mock of the vermin in the lower zoo,

turning beauty to filth and greed...

I too have sailed the world and seen its wonders,

for the cruelty of men is as wondrous as Peru,

but there's no place like London!"

He grinned as he lit up a cigarette, blowing the smoke into the air, He'd just been to the bank to deposit the club's weekly earnings and to pay the yearly rent in advance…. Life was going well for him right now.

As he took another drag of his cig, there was a sudden BOOM from a few blocks away…. In fact, it sounded very close to his club.

"No, no, no, no, no!" he muttered, racing forwards and throwing his cigarette to the ground, "Please no!"

…

"Ezio…" muttered Evie into her communicator, "… are you guys in position?"

From the opposite rooftop, Ezio grinned, "We've been ready for ages mia signora, we're anxious to get going."

"Glad to hear it."

Before the two teams could leap into action, there was an earth-shattering boom from the middle of the town. Their target down below reacted predictably to the sound, racing inside to safety.

"What the hell was that?!" asked Conner, glancing over in the direction of the sound, "An explosion?"

"Sure, sounded like it." Confirmed his cousin, "So, who wants to be the one to tell the Council that the target has scarpered?"

Sighing as the rest of the team turned to her, Evie pulled out her mobile and made the call to the council. It only took a couple of rings before the stern tone of Giovanni answered. "There have been early reports of an explosion in the town. We hope it's nothing related to your assignment?"

"No Master Auditore. However, the target has left our reaches because of the explosion. Where was the explosion?"

"Near Miller Street."

She frowned at this, "Isn't that where Vex's club is?"

It had been a couple of weeks since they had been captured by Vex, and despite not returning to the building themselves, other Assassins who had made a pit stop there, seemed content.

"Precisely why Grandmaster Altair is concerned. If Vex believes we are responsible for this, then he may turn to the Templars."

"Why would he-"

Evie stopped in her tracks, wincing as her thoughts turned back to the Temple bombings five years ago, "- because other Assassins have bombed allies before."

"Precisely. Whilst Shay's betrayal was a lone occurrence, Vex may not see it like that. If one Assassin can do such a horrific thing, then why can't any other member? Your mission has changed, we need you to help Vex find the responsible party, if it's his club that has been damaged and it was no accident."

As the team agreed to take on the mission, ending the call to the council, Arno found himself sighing. "Even when he's locked up behind bars, Shay is causing difficulty."

"What do you mean mio amico?" asked Ezio, flipping over to another rooftop.

"If Shay hadn't have betrayed us, then there'd be no question of the Creed's morality! Nobody would suspect us of bombing a building!"

Evie sighed, "He has a point Ezio. For five years, the Council has tried to fix the Creed's relationship with the villages and the towns surrounding it. Shay has made us look bad, and with this new agreement between Vex and the Creed, we can't afford to ruin it!"

"Precisely." Agreed Arno, "From behind bars, Shay is still fucking up our lives!"

The rest of the team chose to remain silent as they raced across the rooftops, heading directly for Vex's club. Upon arriving, they immediately saw that the main part of the club seemed unaffected. The back of the building however, that was almost up in flames.

Leaping down to the ground, the group spotted Kenzi pacing back and forth as emergency services attempted to control the flames and tend to anyone who was injured. She was shouting orders into a mobile, throwing her spare hand in the air as she steadily got more and more annoyed.

When she saw the group, she made her excuses and hung up, storming over to them.

"This had better not be your fault!" she hissed, gesturing at the damaged building, "What was it? An attempt to kill Vex?"

Connor stepped forwards and shook his head, "We swear on the honour of our Creed, we had nothing to do with this."

Before Kenzi could reply, a figure came rushing up.

"Kenzi?! KENZI!"

As soon as the hooded figure (who the young assassins assumed to be Vex) spotted the group, he rushed over. "Thank God!" he exclaimed, his voice slightly robotic sounding as he pulled Kenzi into a hug, "When I heard the explosion, I thought the worst."

The pair hugged each other for a bit, before they pulled away and Vex cleared his throat. However, before he could say anything, Kenzi held up her hand to stop him.

"Yes. I've contacted our usual construction company, and they've agreed to work longer for twice as much ion order to get your office fixed. No. Nobody in the actual club was injured, but free drinks and snacks have been offered and provided. Yes. Whoever blew up your office seemed to be after the money. No. They didn't get any…. Unless you count monopoly money,"

Vex closed his mouth and grinned at Kenzi. "You are the very best parts of me Kenzi. How long do you think the builders will be?"

"Around a week, possibly less."

"Great. And how much monopoly money did they take?

"All of it."

"Dammit."

Before the pair could continue, Evie cleared her throat. "Excuse me…. But what monopoly money?"

Vex turned to the group in surprise, as though he hadn't even realised that they were there. Once he'd composed himself, he grinned at them. "Oh, I have a safe in my office. At the end of the day, all the bartenders on duty bring me the tills and I put the money in the safe. Once they leave the room, I take the money out and replace it with monopoly money, putting the real money in another hiding place. It helps to prevent serious robbery."

He turned to Kenzi, "I need a list of all the bartenders on duty tonight. They're the only ones who believed the money was in that safe."

"Okay, we only had six on duty."

"Six?! What about Felicia?"

"Her Mother passed away."

Vex winced, "Fair enough…. Call her and tell her to take as long as she wants. We can afford to pay her bereavement wages correct?"

"Of course… Would you like me to call Agnes and let her know that you're going to be interrogating her bar staff?"

Groaning, Vex nodded. "Please…. And tell her it's necessary if she complains."

"Vex?"

Vex turned to Ezio, who continued.

"The Council has instructed us to help you with finding out who bombed your club. Is there anywhere that you'd like to- "

"- No." interrupted Vex, "This is my club, so I'll find out who bombed it and they will pay. You can assist if you want, but I'm in charge. Agreed?"

The Young Assassin team all glanced at each other, before Ezio nodded. "Concordato. Where do we begin?"

Vex winced, "We have to tell Agnes she may have a traitor in her bar staff team."


	2. Chapter 2

As well as my Evie & Jacob one shots, I am also writing a modern Assassin's creed series

Previously in this series: After being framed for a crime, Jacob left the Order and the Assassin village. Five year later, the Young Assassin team meet Vex and enter into an agreement with him and his club.

Please enjoy, and read and review :)

….

"No!" yelled Amanda, who worked as Agnes's assistant, taking a step forward as Vex tensed up, "No, there is no chance that any of the bar staff are responsible for this!"

Vex shook his head, "Amanda please. Only the bar staff, who come into my office at the end of the day to give me the tills, know where I place the money. Where's Agnes?"

"Her son was sick, so I said I would cover for her whilst she went to take care of him."

"What's happening?"

Amanda and Vex turned around to see the five bartenders who were on duty that night, stride into the room.

"I'm sorry Amanda…" Kenzi sighed, "…. But we're getting to the bottom of this. Now."

Amanda looked as though she was going to argue, but she just scowled. "Well at least let me have a word with them first. They're good friends, and this is going to hit them hard. If they find out that one of their friends betrayed us- "

"- That won't be necessary." Interrupted Vex as he strode over to the six bartenders, "They're grownups, they can handle this. You five. Sit down."

As they went to sit down, Connor and Evie entered the room, making their way to the back of the room in order to make sure that nothing untoward would happen.

Vex nodded at them, indicating that he was accepting their presence, before turning his attention back to the bar staff. "We have a traitor amongst us… or more specifically, you have a traitor amongst you six, if we include Amanda."

The five all glanced at each other in dismay, clearly not believing that one of their friends could betray them.

Vex turned his attention to Giulio, a nineteen-year-old Italian teen. "I need to know what you did during your shift."

There was silence for a few moments, before Giulio shrugged, "I-I don't know…. What I usually do I-I suppose."

"Things like what?"

Giulio's hand were trembling slightly under the pressure, "Mi dispiace Sir…. I'm a little nervous. You're both my bosses!"

"The way I see it…" sighed Kenzi, striding over, "… if you tell us the truth, you don't need to be worried about anything."

"Giulio's telling the truth!" exclaimed Melissa, a brunette who was working at the bar in order to pay her way through school, "He's one of the best cocktail makers in this team. He very rarely leaves the cocktail area except for breaks."

"Is that right?" asked Vex, "You were making cocktails almost all night?"

"Si signore"

"Did you enter my office at any point during the night?"

"No signore."

Vex and Kenzi stared at him for a couple of minutes, before Vex nodded. "I believe you. Thank you, Giulio."

They then turned their attention to another bar tender, "Candice? Where were you?"

"I was waitressing Boss…" she sighed, "… we had a 'leaving' party book a table for the night, and they were ordering food most of the night."

"So, you were doing that all night?" asked Kenzi, "Was anyone helping?"

"It was me and Melissa, Boss."

Melissa nodded in agreement, "I was working on the bar for a bit, but the party really were ordering lots of food, so I decided to help. The bar was quiet enough."

"Can anyone else confirm this?"

"Ummmm, the party was from Burrows and Hicks, so I think they'd be able to confirm it."

Vex glanced at Kenzi, and she nodded. "I'll give them a call." She confirmed.

"Let me talk to them!" Amanda begged as the two went to the next bar tender.

"It's okay Amanda…" Robert stated, "…. I have nothing to hide." He held up a bandaged hand, "I went to see Terry to get my hand wrapped up. I was cleaning up some broken glass and I got cut. Terry will confirm that she stitched me up."

Gently taking a hold of the hand, Vex examined it before nodding. "Alright…. Go to the hospital later ad get it checked out properly."

Kenzi and Vex then turned to Gabriel. Gabriel was new to the team, having been fired from his old job.

"Gabriel? Where were you?"

"I was helping to serve food…."

Melissa shot to her feet, "No you weren't!" she yelled, suddenly remembering that her bosses were there as she flushed, "I-I mean- "

"If you have something to say Melissa…" sighed Vex, "…. Then say it."

Giving Gabriel an apologetic smile, Melissa explained herself. "Gabe only helped in the beginning. We didn't really see him for much of the evening."

"Where were you Gabriel?"

Gabriel shrugged, "I was just going through the crowd, making sure everyone was okay."

"… You know I'm going to need a better answer than that."

There was a tense silence, before Gabriel sighed. "I was near the South-East exit…. Didn't want anyone to see me making this." He pulled a bead bracelet out of his pocket.

Kenzi frowned, "What is it?"

Gabriel flushed slightly, "It's for… it's for Candice."

"For me?"

Nodding at Candice, Gabriel flushed, "You said you hadn't every had one of these before…. So, I decided to make one for you."

As Gabriel handed the bracelet over, Candice beamed at him. "Wow! I can't believe you made this for me! Thank you!"

The rest of the team seemed to agree, giving Gabriel approving looks as Candice leaned over and kissed the other teen on the cheek.

Amanda however, wasn't as impressed. "So you lied?" she scolded, "Gabriel, that's not good. Lying about where you were only tells me that you might have lied about other things. How do we know that you didn't make that bracelet earlier? Maybe you were doing something else tonight?"

"What?!" Gabriel shot to his feet, "H-hang on! I really was making the bracelet!"

"Calm down Gabriel…" scolded Amanda, gesturing to the two assassins at the back of the room, "… and don't say anything else. I think we need to get law enforcement involved. If you were so desperate for money, then you could have asked…. Now all you have is monopoly money."

Gabriel scowled, knocking Amanda's hand away from him, "Maybe you should talk Amanda? Tell them where you went! I was near the exit closest to the main officer wasn't i? I saw you go in!"

"Gabriel. I have been patient but- "

"- I saw Melissa and Candice waitressing. I saw Giulio bartending and I saw Robert going to Terry… I also saw you go into the head office!"

"I'm Agnes's assistant. Sometimes I have to go into the head office."

"Then why were you looking so nervous before going in?!"

There was silence, before Amanda shook her head. "He's obviously feeling cornered…" she said to Vex.

However, when she glanced over at Vex and Kenzi, her face went slightly pale when she saw that the pair were frowning at her. "Amanda…" began Vex, "… What did you mean 'now all you have is monopoly money'… how did you know that only monopoly money was stolen?"


	3. Chapter 3

As well as my Evie & Jacob one shots, I am also writing a modern Assassin's creed series

Previously in this series: After being framed for a crime, Jacob left the Order and the Assassin village. Five year later, the Young Assassin team meet Vex and enter into an agreement with him and his club.

Please enjoy, and read and review :)

….

"… What did you mean 'now all you have is monopoly money'… how did you know that only monopoly money was stolen?"

Amanda frowned, silence filling the room as the five bartenders all turned their attention to her. Eventually, she sighed. "I really hoped you wouldn't pick up on that."

Quicker than what anyone was expecting, Amanda struck Vex in the face, knocking him back into Kenzi's arms.

"Bitch!" he yelled, patting Kenzi gratefully on the arm as Amanda ran out of the room, closely followed by the two Assassins.

As Vex quickly checked that his nose wasn't broken, Kenzi groaned to herself. "Agnes is going to go mental…" she sighed, "…. She really trusted Amanda."

"Great…." Satisfied that his nose was fine, Vex sighed, "… but remind me to veto all employees from now on! I'm putting up a 'No criminals' advert on Craigslist!"

"Would that exclude you?"

"Shut up."

…..

"She's heading for the car-park!" hissed Evie, as she and Connor chased after Amanda.

"Makes sense. Now that she's exposed, she needs to get out of town and away from the Assassin Village!"

Evie nodded, "There's no-where to run Amanda!" she called out as they reached the end of the car-park.

As she rounded a corner, she suddenly stopped in her tracks. Lying partially under a parked car was a small device, that had a red light blinking on and off…. Accompanied by beeping.

"GET DOWN!" she yelled, pushing Connor away to encourage him to run away.

As they ran, the bomb exploded, sending a car flying into the air. Diving to the side, the pair narrowly avoided being crushed by the flaming vehicle. Getting their breath back, Evie and Connor listened at car alarms echoed throughout the car-park and the sound of sirens filled the streets.

Shaking her head to try and clear the ringing on her ears, Evie winced. "That bitch!"

….

Vex and Kenzi heard the explosion and raced outside, remaining in the doorway of the club as Vex swore under his breath.

"And now I have to pay for that car to be replaced!"

There was silence for a few minutes, before Vex sighed. "She knew that the Assassins would go into the car-park, because they believed she would try and get away. It was the perfect trap."

"… So, what are the chances that she's coming back?"

"Too high for my liking. Kenzi…" Vex turned to his friend, "… get the gang and lock this club down. That bitch is not leaving this club!"

"If she's in here."

"Oh, she's in here…. I know it!"

Nodding, Kenzi quickly pulled out her mobile.

"Boys?" she began, "We're going to need you to come in."

…

As Evie and Connor continued to search outside, convinced that Amanda was trying to get away, Vex and Kenzi sealed off the club.

"Sir?"

He turned around to see Candice and Gabriel standing behind him, their faces still slightly pale by the revelation that Amanda had betrayed them.

"We saw Amada head towards the main club…" stated Candice, "… what do you need us to do?"

"Get the rest of the bar staff and head to a safe area…" ordered Vex, "… preferably with one of the boys. I'm not risking your safety if Amanda's angry… especially with you Gabriel."

"Sir?"

"You outed her…. And if she's bold enough to plant bombs in my office and then the car-park, then I don't doubt that she might come after you. I'm not risking it."

Whilst Gabriel was still conflicted over this, Candice nodded in agreement and grabbed her friend by the hand, tugging him away.

Once they were out of earshot, Vex turned to Kenzi. "Where's the best hiding place in this place?"

"The main club area with the dancing floor, remember? We had that competition when it was first built?"

"Ah yes. The main floor it is."

….

After searching the area, Connor and Evie both concluded that Amanda was no-where to be found… and there were no signs of her either.

"We need to go back…" sighed Evie, "… maybe Vex will have a plan."

Leaping across the rooftops, the pair jumped down towards the main entrance, only to find a skinny brunette male and a red-headed female blocking their way into the club.

"What's going on?" asked Evie.

"The clubs on lockdown…" answered the red-head, "… Boss says nobody goes in or out with his permission."

"… So, let us in."

The red-head shrugged, "Not without the Boss's permission."

"So… why aren't you letting us in?"

"Boss hasn't given us permission."

Rolling her eyes and resisting the urge to throw her hands in the air, Evie groaned. "Then why can't you ask him if we can go in?"

"We can't move away from the door."

"Oh, for fu- "

….

Vex and Kenzi glanced around the dance floor, searching behind the bar and checking under tables. As they searched, Vex removed a knife from a hidden pocket, twirling it in his fingers.

"Imagine you're Amanda…" stated Kenzi, tense as the silence overwhelmed her, "… your cover's blown and you need to get away, but you decide not to just steal a car because it's too obvious, especially with the Assassins keeping an eye out. Where would you go?"

Silently, Vex glanced upwards towards the vents. Kenzi followed his gaze, smirking when she realized what Vex was hinting at.

"The lockdown…." Vex drawled, "… she'll want to get around the lockdown."

Kenzi played along, nodding in agreement. "Yes… and the easiest way to do that would be to take out the lights. Then it'll be easy to distract the guys."

"Yeah…" Carefully leaving the knife on a table directly under a vent, Vex glanced around, "… but surely she knows that we'd be expecting her to do that?"

"Or does she… I get what you're saying!"

Glancing up at the ceiling, Vex smirked slightly. "Go to the engineering room… cut her off."

"What are you going to do?" asked Kenzi as she headed towards the door.

"I'll stay here… you make sure that the power stays on, that'll help."

Kenzi nodded, heading towards the doorway. Knowing that she was out of sight from anyone who might have been in the vents above the dance floor, she opened the door to the staff exit…. And then let it shut again without ever leaving.

As soon as the door slammed shut, there was the sound of a vent opening, and Amanda hung out of it, fingers tightly the edge until she dropped to the ground. As she crept up behind Vex, grabbing the knife from off the table, Vex couldn't help but smirk.

"Hey Amanda… first rule of trying to be sneaky, always look behind you."

Literally centimetres away from Vex, Amanda stopped when she felt the cold steel of a sword pressed against the side of her neck.

"You know what's funny…" chuckled Kenzi, "… we knew that you wouldn't risk trying to get out of the town just yet. You wanted that money so desperately, you need it…. Which is why coming back to the club was your only option. The thing is, with all the exits blocked, you don't have the skills to get out again, even with the lights off."

Twisting around and re-claiming his knife, Vex grinned as Amanda scowled.

"That was a dirty trick…" she hissed in anger, holding her hands up in surrender.

Vex just shrugged, "If you can't play the game…."

"Right…. You knew I was here."

Keeping her sword by Amanda's neck, Kenzi rolled her eyes. "Of course we knew. Didn't you think we'd have a plan?"

Amanda scowled at her, "Maybe I hoped that you didn't… he didn't tell me I'd have to work against you."

"Who?"

Knowing that she had said too much, Amanda scowled. Before Kenzi could react, Amanda dived away from the katana and twirled around, elbowing the other woman in the face, sending her to the ground.

As the katana fell to the ground, Amanda was quick to pick it up and lunge at the other owner of the club. However, Vex was too quick and leaned back to avoid being decapitated, kicking out at Amanda an pushing her back a couple of steps.

It didn't take long for Amanda to recover, reaching out to grab Vex head and bring it down to meet her knee. He stumbled back in shock and pain, hand flying up to his forehead as Amada ran for the door.

"Bitch!" he snarled, quickly recovering and chasing after Amanda, tackling her to the ground just before she reached the door.

As Amada twisted onto her back, blocking the punches that Vex was throwing at her, she began to rant and rave at him. "Society is flawed! The Assassins blindly follow orders and for what? To put the rest of us down!"

Wriggling furiously, she managed to wrap her legs around his neck and flip him onto his back, lashing out with punches of her own. "He knows the flaws of society and he has promised me rewards!"

Before she could land another hit, Kenzi crept up behind her and wrapped an arm around Amanda's neck. "Yeah..." she whispered in Amanda's ear, "… I'm sure bombing a club and getting some monopoly money is exactly what your little friend wanted."

Amanda growled at this, flinging her head back and knocking Kenzi back before knocking her to the ground and grabbing Kenzi's leg. With a sharp yank, she pulled the hip out of its joint, grinning as she heard Kenzi scream in pain.

"He just wanted chaos…" Amanda growled as she pushed herself to her feet, "… he didn't care how I did this. He's offered me a chance to gain true freedom! Not that anyone here would understand!"

Hearing footsteps behind her, Amanda span around… only to meet the wrong end of Vex's boot. With a deafening crack, Amanda collapsed to the ground, with Vex leaping on top of her and placing a knife at her neck.

There was a tense silence, before he moved away. "Unconscious… finally." He quickly rushed over to Kenzi and gently placed his hand on her injured leg, "I think it's only dislocated… 'm going to pop it back."

"I'd prefer to wait for a Doctor's op-AAAHHHH! BASTARD!"

With a sickening pop, Vex popped Kenzi's hip back into joint and rotated it slowly, making sure that everything was how it should be.

"I hate you!" Kenzi groaned, allowing Vex to lean her against the wall, "If I want my leg tugged and pulled like that, I'll go and see an actual Doctor! Or Terry, at least she warns people!"

Vex shrugged, "Stop bitching and let's get the actual bitch out of here…. Where are the Assassin's when you need them?"

"You blocked all the doors remember?"

"That doesn't usually stop Assassins?"

…

Evie and Connor scowled at the doormen.

"Listen, can't you just- "

Suddenly, one of the men placed a finger near his ear, nodding as he listened to orders coming over his earpiece. "Yeah boss, they're right here…. Send them in, yes Sir."

In unison, the pair moved to the side and waved the two assassins inside.

"The boss says you can come in now. They're in the main dance room. Apparently, he and Kenzi have caught the bit- I mean, Amanda."

Evie and Connor turned to each other in shock and raced inside, heading straight for the main room. As soon as they burst through the doors, they spotted Kenzi resting against the wall and Vex kneeling on top of an unconscious Amanda, tying her hands behind her back.

"I think freedom's going to have to wait bitch…" he was muttering under his breath as he tightened the knots.

"Vex?"

Vex span around and beamed at the two Assassins, "Finally! I thought you guys had abandoned us!"

"Your men wouldn't let us pass!"

"Oh… sorry."

Evie rolled her eyes. She couldn't help but feel like Vex and Jacob would have gotten on brilliantly. "It doesn't matter… have you called the police?"

"Actually… I think you might what to take her."

"Oh?"

"She mentioned a... boss perhaps? Or a mysterious benefactor?"

Evie frowned at this, "Did she mention anything else? Any clues?"

"She just ranted about how society was flawed… and that the Assassins were everything wrong with the world."

This caught Evie's attention, remembering another individual who had similar views.

Shay Patrick Cormac.


	4. Chapter 4

As well as my Evie & Jacob one shots, I am also writing a modern Assassin's creed series

Previously in this series: After being framed for a crime, Jacob left the Order and the Assassin village. Five year later, the Young Assassin team meet Vex and enter into an agreement with him and his club.

Please enjoy, and read and review :)

….

"Amanda?!" Agnes screamed down the phone in Vex's ear, "Are you sure?"

As he travelled to the Assassin village, Vex winced at Agnes's shrill voice in his ear. "Considering she dislocated Kenzi's hip and tried to knock me out, I'd say I'm sure."

"Shit!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

As the car drove through the gates of the Assassin village, Vex found himself glancing out of the tinted windows, taking in the large, extravagant buildings and the people gawking at his car.

A Rolls Royce will do that to people.

As the car pulled up outside the main Assassin Temple, Vex nimbly clambered out of the vehicle, dressed in one of his finest suits as he kept his face shielded with a hat. Without even glancing at all the people staring at him, Vex strode up the stairs and entered, ignoring the frowns of the guards.

"Great security…" he muttered under his breath, quickly looking around to make sure that he hadn't been heard, "… anyone off the streets can just waltz right in."

"Excuse me! Excuse me"

Vex turned around and stiffened at the sight of a brunette rushing towards him, dressed in a police uniform.

As the man came to a stop in front of him, he frowned Vex, scanning him from head to toe. "What are you doing here?"

"I-I…. I'm Vex, I'm here to get to the bottom of why my club was bombed."

"Vex…. The club owner?" The young man seemed to recognise the name, "Evie, I-I mean Miss Frye mentioned that you might be stopping by."

"And here I am."

The young man held out his hand, "Sergeant Frederick Abberline. I've been instructed to take you to our viewing room."

"Viewing room?"

"Miss Frye believed that you might want to witness the interrogation."

Vex smirked at the thought and nodded in understanding, following Freddie as they headed further into the building and down some stairs. There was a long, narrow corridor which had line of cells all along it, and at the end, was two more doors.

Gesturing at the right-hand door, Freddie smiled at Vex. "Just through there, I think Mister Kenway is waiting for you."

"Which one?"

"Haytham."

Vex winced, "Wonderful."

As Freddie chuckled, Vex opened the door and entered the room. It was a simple lay-out, with a metal table and chairs, and a large, viewing window, where Vex could see Amanda chained to an interrogation table.

"I heard she gave you all quite the run around…"

Glancing over to the dark corner near the window, but further from the door, Vex spotted Haytham Kenway leaning against the wall.

"I assume she's the reason why your face looks like you've gone several rounds with a boxing champion."

"She has a hard head…. And sharp elbows." Chuckled Vex, moving to the window and watching as Amanda tested the strength of the handcuffs.

"How is your partner? I heard she was injured during the scuffle."

Vex sighed, "Kenzi will be fine. She'll be in crutches fort a while, but she's alive. That's what matters…. She does have to do paperwork though and she hates that."

As Amanda pulled harder and harder at the cuffs, the door opened and Grandmaster Altair's second-in-command entered the room. Whilst his missing arm often tricked people into thinking he was weaker, Malik was one of the strongest Assassin's in the creed.

"Amanda Pinner…" started Malik, seating himself opposite the young lady, "… good education. No previous arrests or convictions… this behaviour is very uncharacteristic of you."

Amanda just scoffed, turning her head as she avoided meeting Malik's eyes.

Undeterred, Malik continued. "Apparently, according to witness statements, you blame society for your little… mishap?"

"No…" Amanda whispered, "…. Society is flawed, but that is the fault of your little Creed. You are the ones keeping the surrounding town enslaved! Everyone would do anything for your Creed, and most know that they have no choice!"

Her head fell forward as she sighed, "I just wanted something more… he promised me something more."

Malik frowned, "And all you had to do was put innocent civilians at risk."

"I was striking a blow for everyone who was too afraid to stand up to your Creed!"

"If you truly cared for people, you wouldn't have put them at risk…" Malik sighed, leaning forwards in his seat, "… you're going to be taken to a secure lock-up before going to jail. Is this really the more that your friend promised you?"

Amanda's face visible tightened at this, "You know who I'm talking about…" she whispered, not meeting Malik's eyes.

"I have my suspicions yes. But why don't you tell me anyway?"

There was a tense silence before Amanda began to chuckle, "Life's hardest choices are the ones that force you to question your own moral code…." She started, sounding as though she was reading from a script, "…. Ring any bells?"

In the viewing room, Haytham visibly tensed as Vex turned to him. "What is she talking about?"

Haytham sighed, "At the trial of Shay Patrick Cormac, when asked why he betrayed the Creed, what forced him to make that choice, knowing that there was a chance he would be caught…. Shay said that. Exactly what Amanda just said."

"So…. Someone who was working in my club, has had contact with one of the Creed's most notorious traitors. That's just what we need."

"We can only assume that Shay has heard about our deal with you and has decided to…test your boundaries. Your actions in subduing Amanda and letting the Assassins deal with her may bring more… agents like this to your door."

"Great… that's just what I need.

Haytham shrugged, "We can always have Assassins guard your- "

Before he could finish, Vex held up a hand. "Forget it. I don't want any Assassins snooping around my club. How many people do you think are going to want to come in when I've got your lot hanging around? Besides, it doesn't make any sense…. A tiny bomb in my office, when I wasn't in… not exactly a huge strike against me or you. Something else is going on here."

There was silence for a few moments, before Haytham realized something in his head, quickly grabbing his phone from his pocket. "It was a fucking distraction…" he hissed, "… We were all too damn focused on the bombing."

After he dialled an unknown number, Haytham moved to the opposite corner, phone by his ear. "This is Mister Haytham Kenway. I need to know about the status of a Shay Patrick Cormac."

"..."

"What do you mean a status report is unavailable?"

"…"

"And when were you going to tell us this?"

"…."

"Never mind. If he hurts someone now, you can expect a visit from our lawyer… in fact, expect a visit anyway."

Hanging up quickly, Haytham turned to face Vex.

"Shay escaped…. With all of our focus on Amanda and the bombing, he and some Templar supports managed to make their way to freedom."

"So, he's free."

"Yes… and now we need to expect an attack on the Creed."

"When?"

"… I don't know."


End file.
